GreenBeat: Doerr wants to see more U.S. leadership in smart grid, cleantech
“Ten years out we want lamps that use 2 percent the energy and put out the same amount of light,” Doerr said at the beginning of his talk at GreenBeat 2009 today — indicative of his interest and that of his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in the newest, boldest investments when it comes to cleantech and the grid.
He began the conversation with VentureBeat editor Matt Marshall by comparing the evolution of the Smart… Continue Reading
Al Gore’s new book ‘Our Choice’ — a review by John Doerr
[John Doerr is a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He submitted this review to VentureBeat. Al Gore was named a partner at Kleiner Perkins two years ago. Both will be speaking at GreenBeat, our conference on the smart grid on Nov.19]
Al Gore’s new book – Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis – is the perfect and powerful sequel to An Inconvenient Truth.
It is wonderfully accessible and pragmatic…. Continue Reading
Mark Zuckerberg, top VCs drop off Forbes’ billionaire list
Financially, it’s been a tough year for almost everyone, even the absurdly rich. Some of the tech world’s richest men are billionaires no more, according to Forbes’ new list of the world’s billionaires. Among the most notable dropoffs (for VentureBeat readers) are Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sequoia Capital’s Michael Moritz and venture capital pioneer Arthur Rock.
Last year, Zuckerberg (then 23) was estimated to be worth $1.5 billion, making him the world’s youngest billionaire. Now he’s lost… Continue Reading
Obama appoints John Doerr to economic advisory board
Updated
President Barack Obama just named two Silicon Valley bigwigs to his new Economic Recovery Advisory Board — famed venture capitalist John Doerr of Keiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Charles Phillips, president of business software maker Oracle Corp.
There’s an impressive range of names on the board, which will be led by Paul Volcker, who chaired the Federal Reserve under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and will include GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer… Continue Reading
Meet the new Midas List, same as the old list
Forbes has released the latest edition of its Midas List ranking of the top investors, and it’s full of familiar faces. The top four spots are literally identical to last year’s list, with Google backers John Doerr (of Kleiner Perkins), Michael Moritz (of Sequoia Capital), Ram Shiram (of Sherpalo), and Stanford Prof. David Cheriton holding on to their titles as the titans of venture capital. The lack of movement isn’t too surprising, since VCs didn’t… Continue Reading
Like father, like offspring? Mary Doerr, daughter of legendary VC, launches Inconvenient Youth
In most cases, when a 17 year old girl wants to attempt to galvanize her generation against global warming, the end product tends to be basically nothing. Things change a bit when that girl’s father is Kleiner Perkins’ chief rainmaker, John Doerr.
The VC, who led early investments in Google, Intuit and Sun Microsystems and lured Al Gore to join the firm, credits his daughter, Mary, with pushing him to go green. Now, with backing from… Continue Reading
The ‘titans’ of venture capital: Entrepreneurs, we’re here to serve you
Updated
John Doerr and Michael Moritz, the most prominent venture capitalists in the world, just squared off at the annual meeting of the National Venture Capital Association. Largely on the basis of their investments in Google, the two men have spent the last few years jockeying for the top spot on Forbes’ annual Midas List — Moritz (pictured, below) topped the list in 2007, with Doerr (pictured, above) at number two, but this year, their positions… Continue Reading
Al Gore joins Kleiner Perkins as a partner — to push green investments
Kleiner Perkins, the well-known venture capital firm that backed Google, Netscape, Sun, Amazon and many others, has always had a soft spot for politics.
Now the firm has added former Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore as a partner — in an continued effort to ramp up its investments in the area of green technology. It’s the firm’s latest big name addition. It hired former Secretary of State Colin Powell two years go, and has… Continue Reading
Personal-genetics startup Navigenics, a competitor to Google-backed 23andMe, unstealths
(UPDATED: See below.)
Navigenics, a new personal genetics startup with some serious backing, threw back the curtain over the weekend by unveiling its Web site. The Redwood Shores, Calif., startup says it aims to provide individuals with their genetic profiles and then to “arm” them with ways to improve their future heath.
This is very similar to what 23andMe, a similar startup backed by Google and Genentech (see our coverage here and here), intends to do. Adding to… Continue Reading
Doerr’s crusade on global warming
When John Doerr spoke at the Ted conference in March, he broke into tears at the end of a 20-minute talk about global warming.
We heard from some participants that the speech was moving.
The talk is on YouTube, and is worth watching. Doerr summarizes what large companies like Wal-Mart can do, what governments can do (citing California’s emission-capping legislation, but more, such as geothermal policy), what entrepreneurs can do (make “designer bugs” for biofuels, for example)… Continue Reading
Powerbeam, the wireless electricity start-up
Powerbeam, a new Silicon Valley start-up, is working on a revolutionary idea: Using a laser to beam light, the energy of which would be used to power your laptop or other device without having to plug it in.
PowerBeam says its powerful laser can transmit more electrical power than other methods, and it comes with a safety feature. Dean Takahashi of the Merc has seen the product demonstrated, and he’s duly enthusiastic.
As Dean describes it, here’s… Continue Reading
Conde Nast launches Portfolio.com
Condé Nast, the New York publisher, today launches Portfolio, a new magazine that chronicles “how business shapes the world—and who the players are that wield the power.”
The first batch of stories is impressive, and if the magazine keeps this up, it’s bound to make waves. Each piece in the first edition has a business angle, but they range from politics to art, technology to entertainment. We’re still reading, and absorbing, but here are the essentials.
For… Continue Reading
Roundup: Frontline, Breitbart, Maxthon, Clipsearch, Yahoo-Viacom, Salesforce-Koral
Here’s the latest action:
Big names support Frontline Wireless, which wants to end-run carriers — James Barksdale, former chief executive of Netscape (left, top), and John Doerr, a big-name venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins (left, bottom), are the latest to back Frontline Wireless, the company we wrote about last month, which wants to bid for radio spectrum dedicated for public safety but which can also be used for profitable wireless offerings.
The long-wave spectrum will support wireless… Continue Reading
Roundup: Apple TV a hit, YouTube killer, Google PPA, Wink & more
Updated
Apple TV is a hit — According to early accounts, at least.
YouTube killer? — [Update: This has been confirmed.] Rumors have existed for some time about collusion among the big-media players to challenge YouTube, the king of video sharing. Now the LA Times reports that News Corp. and NBC Universal plan to announce as soon as today that they’re building an online video site “stocked with TV shows and movies, plus clips that users can modify and… Continue Reading
MyCFO, a house of cards
Some former employees of the failed MyCFO, the financial service company started during boom to cater to wealth individuals, are subjects of criminal investigation for proposing sham tax shelters to its clients.
The WSJ has the story about MyCFO, its demise, and the shadow hanging over those who pushed the tax shelter — and some of the clients that used it.
In particular, the story focuses on the role of some key lawyers at the company, who… Continue Reading
VC John Doerr leads $10M investment in physician software co., Purkinje
St. Louis’ Purkinje, a company that provides clinical and billing software for physicians, has raised $10M in a fourth round of funding led by board members John Doerr and Michael Long.
The company lists Doerr as the principal owner and backer. Doerr is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, while Long is the former CEO of Healtheon. Doerr also led Purkinje’s US $11 million third round round in March 2005. The company has now… Continue Reading
Amyris gets $20M from high-profile investors to find alternative fuel
Two high-profile Silicon Valley investors known for their aggressive support of alternative energy have helped pump $20 million into a new Emeryville biology company called Amyris.
The investment is notable because Amyris is using synthetic biology to search for an ideal alternative fuel to replace petroleum. It is looking for a molecule similar to ethanol, a biofuel derived from plants such as corn, but even better. News of the investment plans came in June, but… Continue Reading
Khosla responds to conflicts-of-interest charge on oil tax
Vinod Khosla, the successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is leading the effort to raise a tax on oil extracted in the California, has responded to the oil industry’s charges that he has conflicts.
In an interview the WSJ (sub req), Khosla says his investments in alternative energies aren’t really a conflict with his $1 million support of Prop. 87, which would levy a tax on oil – even though some of the tax proceeds would… Continue Reading
3Jam launches group SMS, nice
Updated
3Jam has launched a new way to texting friends in groups, and we think it’s going to do well. Multi-person texting simply isn’t possible yet, and with 80 million people with texting in the U.S. and growing, 3Jam may be hitting a sweet spot.
And texting is the technology of the future. Among college students, there’s a 75 percent usage rate. (For the uninitiated, when we say texting, we’re refering to the short messages people send… Continue Reading
The Oil Drum debate, round one
With VC investments in clean technologies growing, and the state making important energy policy decisions to fend off global warming, the oil-ethanol debate is growing in importance. The valley has a stake in understanding the economics of a switch away from oil, to support ethanol.
Robert Rapier (pictured below) works for an oil company, but he says he cares about the environment. He co-authors a powerful blog called The Oil Drum, and recently wrote a scathing… Continue Reading